Friday, February 25, 2011

-- With the Michael Young trade rumors all but dead and buried, Fox Sports writer/sideline reporter/chief speculator, Ken Rosenthal, is now turning his attention to a possible Rockies deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. Fox Sports

Just this week, the Cardinals lost right-hander Adam Wainwright, who will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire season, and infielder Nick Punto, who has a sports hernia and will be out two to three months.

The Rockies currently have seven starting pitchers –right-handers Ubaldo Jimenez, left-hander Jorge De La Rosa and righties, Aaron Cook, Jason Hammel, Jhoulys Chacin, Esmil Rogers and Felipe Paulino. Cook already is experiencing shoulder soreness. Paulino is out of options, and cannot be sent to the minors without clearing waivers.

The Rockies’ extra infielders – Chris Nelson, Eric Young Jr., Jonathan Herrera and Jose Lopez – also could appeal to the Cardinals. Herrera, a switch-hitter who can play shortstop, probably is the most valuable member of the group.

Rosenthal also added the teams have not had any discussions. It's always important to note that after so many false reports of the Rockies talking to the Rangers during that six week period when they didn't speak.

One of these days Rosenthal will get one right. It's not something I would my breath in anticipation of, but maybe if Aaron Cook gets back on track in the next 10-14 days something will come of this. Or maybe if the Cardinals gets so desperate and confused that they make Colby Rasmus available. Or fill-in-the-blank with some other unlikely event.

Also, I just want everyone to know where this speculation started before Troy Renck gets lambasted for responding to speculation on his Twitter feed and blog. I'm sure he'll be asked a lot of questions about this once it gets out there a little more, and it'll be his job to address it.

He believes the move north to Scottsdale will help the Rockies become better prepared for early season baseball since it will significantly shorten their bus rides and allow them to face major league pitching with a little more frequency during these all important weeks of preparation.

At first glance the basis of his piece seems like it would be easy to dismiss, but give Martin a chance to go a little further into detail. I think you'll find there is a degree of validity to each of his points. Just how much impact these changes make will be difficult to measure accurately, but I expect their April play to improve enough that we'll know the impact does indeed exist.

-- Check back tomorrow for some words on the Rockies and D-Backs christening Salt River Field at Talking Stick with a little Saturday afternoon of baseball!